Over the course of several discussions, the group settled on the name: Gender Studies. The decision to use gender, rather than women, as the name for and focus  was quite deliberate–because, the group agreed, gender is not just about women – everyone has a gender.  The group also developed a mission statement that emphasized promoting gender research and scholarship by faculty and students on campus and disseminating knowledge about gender to the campus community and beyond.

The group selected Hilary Lips as the Director of Gender Studies and moved to form a Faculty Advisory Board that included not only interested Psychology Department faculty but also some faculty from other departments. They also recruited members for a Community Advisory Board. The Radford University Board of Visitors recognized the formation of Gender Studies, and the University agreed to provide basic resources for its operation: office space, telephone lines, office supplies, copying, and graduate assistants.  At the request of the Gender Studies , Wayne Andrew took on the role of Computing and Research Consultant, helping to acquire and maintain computing equipment, assisting with research and data analysis for many projects and, eventually developing the Gender Studies Website. Susan Freedman became the first graduate assistant, making important contributions to many projects and to the public profile of Gender Studies. In 1992, after the death of founding member, Eleanor Kemp, Gender Studies initiated the Kemp Awards for Student Research, given yearly to student recipients from 1994 to the present.

In support of the Center’s mission, faculty members immediately began to mentor graduate and undergraduate students in research projects on gender. Numerous faculty and student presentations, sponsored by the Center, soon took place at the Southeastern Psychological Association, the Southeastern Women’s Studies Association, and other professional meetings. In 1996, the Center hosted the first of its annual student research conferences on gender.
Posters developed for the first two conferences provided logos that have been used by the Center ever since.

The Center also sponsored both external and internal speakers to address many aspects of gender scholarship in addition to sponsoring and co-sponsoring many events. Small grants and donations provided partial funding for these endeavors. In time, the Center obtained its own space on campus: a house at the corner of Howe and Jefferson Streets. After that house was demolished to make room for the College of Business and Economics, the Center moved to the ground floor of 704 Clement Street, and later to Fairfax Street. In 2016, it finally found a permanent home in 4400 CHBS, which houses a well-equipped computer lab and meeting rooms. Throughout these moves, the Center’s continuity was preserved and sustained in virtual space through its extensive Gender Studies website, developed and maintained by Wayne Andrew. Founding Director Hilary Lips retired in December 2015